PHOTO SOURCE: CBS Dallas Forth-Worth. Then officer Kelly Helleson caught on a dashboard camera preparing to perform a cavity search on a woman under the suspicion of marijuana possession.

In a recent Reason.com blog post author Mike Riggs points to a clear example of the many failings of the ongoing Drug War, the stigmatization of human beings. This stigmatization leads to the objectification of people, which in turn provides fodder for inappropriate humor. I am not a prude, and I participated in gallows humor for years, there were times as a police officer that it was my only way to maintain my sanity, but I always understood who my audience was, and always lived by the rule of laughing with people, not at people. As a strong proponent of American civil liberties, I also believe in our First Amendment rights, but realize that those in law enforcement (even if they are not cops) or in positions of authority asDale Roberts is as a University of Missouri law professor and instructor at the same school’s Law Enforcement Training Center, should be held to a different standard even in their personal lives.

A Texas state trooper charged withsexually assaulting two womenduring a traffic stop was providing them with “customer service,” says Dale Roberts, the executive director of the Columbia Police Officers Association (CPOA) and a professor at the University of Missouri. (The CPOA is a part of the Fraternal Order of Police, one of the country’s largest police unions.) “It’s called Customer Service!” Roberts wrote in a March 27 Facebook post about the indictment of Texas State Trooper Kelly Helleson, who was charged with two counts of sexual assault after conducting an illegal roadside strip search of two women. “We just did it so they wouldn’t have to make the trip all the way down to the station,” he added. A screenshot of Roberts’s post was taken by Keep Columbia Free, a civil liberties blog run by Mark Flakne.

What I find most loathsome is that Professor Roberts, who is an attorney, former judge, Constitutional Law professor, and the head of the Columbia Police Officers Association, clearly does not recognize his moral failings as he laughs about two innocent women victimized by law enforcement.

On December 19, 2012 the victims were subjected to an unconstitutional body cavity search simply based on the allegation of the smell of marijuana. For those who are not familiar with the case, the women were driving and were pulled over for a littering violation. In California this is simply a traffic ticket, an infraction that should not result in anything more than a summons to court. Yet the trooper alleged that he then smelled marijuana. He conducted a search of the vehicle (I question the legality of the search, but that’s another article) while a female Texas State Trooper conducted an invasive road-side body cavity search that is alleged to include inserting her fingers inside the victim’s vagina and rectum without even changing her latex gloves. When no marijuana was found, the driver was given a field sobriety test and then released with a warning for the littering violation.

When I saw this story and viewed the videotape, I was simply stunned. The victims have filed a lawsuit and the female trooper was terminated and is awaiting a criminal trial. The taxpayers will once again suffer by having to pay a large settlement for the malfeasance, while the media and our political and law enforcement leaders will label this an isolated event instead of looking at it as an example of the culture that surrounds the enforcement of the Drug War.

This case is a clear example of the Machiavellian effect that the Drug War has had on the police. What is so astonishing is the lack of judgment as expressed by Dale Roberts in his Facebook post. Given his gross lapse in judgment, I find it ironic that he is a lead instructor at a law enforcement training center as well as a Constitutional Law professor. But more chilling for me is that his statement is so similar to others that I heard while a sex crimes investigator that the victim is somehow to blame for the suspect’s actions, or that she enjoyed being victimized.

So the Drug War marches on with more victims, collateral damage to a futile attempt to control human nature. All the while, supposed criminal justice professionals like Roberts continue to influence a profession that I loved, changing our course from protecting those we have sworn to serve to victimizing them at unknown cost to our humanity. Professor Roberts, I would simply ask you that if this were your wife, your daughter or someone you loved, would you be so callous? I think not. So I offer a bit of advice that I used to tell my officers: Before you say or do something, ask yourself if your mother would be proud of your words or actions, and would you be happy to see it on the front page of the news? Clearly, with this remark, you failed both standards, and would have done well to remember that even if you are not a real police officer, as the head of their union you don’t just represent yourself, but also a profession that you have brought to a new low.

Diane Goldstein is a 21-year veteran of law enforcement who retired as the first female lieutenant for the Redondo Beach Police Department, (CA). During her career she worked and managed a variety of patrol and investigative units. She is recognized as a subject matter expert and trainer in the area of crisis negotiations and critical incident management. During her career she was one of the original founders of the California Association of Hostage Negotiators receiving an Honorary Life Member Award in 2007. She is a speaker and Executive Board Member for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a guest columnist for The 420 Times and has appeared on radio, and television as a commentator.

3 comments:

It's good to see another article by Diane Goldstein, aka Lady Bud and as a series.

The "War on Drugs" is more than a failed war, it's more like a genocide, in which a whole sub-culture of Americans have been subjected to indiscriminate abuse, harassment and prejudice in a society that is proud of it's heritage; one of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. For millions of Americans, for over 75 years, many have found themselves isolated on the fringes of society.

We all know that, but what Diane Goldstein is now highlighting is the more sinister, insidious effects of the War on Drugs. The ignorance and cruelty espoused by politicians and law enforcement officials when a person is suspected of using illegal drugs.

Permit me two examples:

1) March 19, 2004 a 17 year old woman vanished during the night and her car was found the following morning crashed backwards into an old abandoned house in rural Vermont. Her name was Brianna Maitland. She has never been found, but during the initial investigation a link was found to her use of cannabis (marijuana). There was a rumor this had led her to use of harder drugs and as a consequence, investigators surmised she had owed money to her suppliers, and had run away to avoid paying them. Her character was determined to be "highly questionable", and as a result officials put off finding her or putting any time into an investigation into wrong-doing for at least the first couple of years. You can read more here as I worked with her family for over two years when VSP would not: http://bobkatlair.blogspot.com/

2)Three years ago I was driving home from work, a hour and a half commute for me both ways, when while listening to NHPR radio I heard that Liz Buckly of NHPR was concluding her series which I forget the name of, but which I'd enjoyed listening to for over 5 years. I was tired, and my car pulled to the right on it's own as it was due/needed the wheels aligned for which that weekend I had an appointment to have it done, and I was very tired as it was a Friday night. I crossed-over the right-hand median strip and was pulled over by a NH police officer.

His first two questions to me were have you been drinking? Have you been using marijuana? Not, are you on drugs?

It is against the law in NH to drive while being distracted, so I was afraid to tell him I was shocked to hear Liz Buckly was leaving NHPR. It may have helped, it may also have gotten me a ticket, which after all I didn't. But what followed was humiliating enough. I explained I wasn't speeding which he agreed I wasn't, and I explained I was tired and I had an appt. to have my wheels aligned the following morning.

The catch is that in 1986 I was charged with marijuana possession in a case that involved possession of a pipe used to smoke marijuana in NY, and that he knew about running a background check on me - of this I am fairly certain.

I had not being smoking marijuana in my car and as such there was no smell of it, yet he asked to search my car, and I complied. Having found nothing he then asked me to exit my car and conducted a a pad-down with me leaning against the trunk of my car - he was searching for drugs. In NH an officer must by law have reasonable grounds to conduct such a search such as the smell of marijuana or fear that his safety in in danger. He asked me if I had any weapons and I informed him "yes" - I was licensed to carry a conceal weapon and my hand-gun was on the passenger floor of my car. He paused at that information but never asked me to show my permit. He continued to search my body, found nothing as I had nothing and let me go on my way.

He broke the law searching me in the first place as I was not a threat. I never reported him. But I remember the event. I don't like what I remember!!!

Same thing just happened in Brazoria county, Tx. Two women leaving the beach headed to Houston were stopped by DPS and had a cavity search given to them on the side of 288 freeway in broad day light. 7-4-13